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SOS Night - Main Corridor
Fringe ''' Neptune, Pluto, and a small, nondescript planet known as Quaoar slowly circle here in their chill, distant orbit around the Sun. Beyond them lies the expanse of the Milky Way, while towards the sun you can see several more welcoming worlds lying ahead... Contents: DIN Night EDC Weapons Testing Range (Pluto) Triton Pluto Obvious exits: Rimward leads to Sol System. Coreward leads to Gas Giants . Carly Witwicky has arrived. Tremor has arrived. Motormaster has arrived. Autobot Heavy Cruiser arrives from the Sol System. Autobot Heavy Cruiser has arrived. A distress beacon, with the ID code belonging to the long-AWOL DIN Night pings faintly over the Decepticon frequency, indicating a location in the outer rim of the Sol system, of all places. Decibel has arrived. Jayson Redfield has arrived. Triggerhappy has arrived. Misfire has arrived. Decibel says, "Look alive folks! Transmission intercepted from a Decepticon craft. Big time SOS coming from the outer region of the Sol system." Rampage has arrived. Aramasu Hikage has arrived. Jayson Redfield says, "Oooh, oooh! Are you gonna investigate? I wanna go, too!" Carly Witwicky says, "Count me in!" Wiretap has encrypted this channel. Wiretap says, "Critical communication recieved" Tremor says, "Sounds like fun." Ultra Magnus says, "Acknowledged Decibel, I'm prepping Defender II for launch. Anyone who wants a lift, get here pronto!" Triggerhappy says, "WHAT" Misfire says, "The critical communication was someone going 'Sounds like fun?'" Wiretap says, "AWOL Decepticon ship sending beacon, emergency frequency" Triggerhappy says, "WHAT" Misfire says, "Science H. Logic make up your mind bro." Decibel says, "On my way!" Wiretap says, "Decepticon ship DIN Night detected outside the SOL system, reccomend IMMEDIATE retrieval." Tremor says, "The opposite of... you know." Misfire says, "Hmmm. I wonder if this has anything to do with the /GHOSTS/ Triggerhappy was telling me he saw..." Motormaster says, "Alright alright, we get the idea. Ok boys, looks like it's up to us to pull their chassis out of the smelter." Triggerhappy says, "Don't go knocking the ghosts, Misfire." Triggerhappy says, "Gotcha Dave" Tremor says, "Whoa, that old floater?" Wiretap says, "Autobots are also recieving the signal. Those who care about AWOL ships can head out to secure the vessel; Those who just like to break heads can go and muder Autobots." Misfire says, "Who's knocking ghosts? I have serious respect for ghosts, they're like... robots, but dead and see-through." Catechism says, "Very well. Decepticons, to the fringe of the Sol System! We will reclaim that which is ours." Triggerhappy says, "So is a dead jellyfish" Misfire says, "Are you saying the ghosts were... of dead jellyfish?" Ultra Magnus has arrived. Triggerhappy says, "I dunno. Like, I was in my room asleep, and I heard a scraping noise, and there was a man, and when I woke up I was all sore and it was awful" Misfire says, "Was it... the Nightman?" Tremor says, "Oh boy! What part of you was sore, Trig? Do I wanna know?" Misfire says, "DID THE NIGHTMAN VISIT YOU TOO?!" Triggerhappy gives a gasp. "I DONT KNOW MAYBE" Misfire says, "HOLY SPACE CRAP BRO, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME! THAT MUST BE THE NIGHTMAN'S SHIP! THE NIGHTSHIP!" Catechism says, "Well, it /is/ the DIN Night..." Misfire says, "SEE!" Triggerhappy says, "WHAT? It is the NIGHTSHIP?" Triggerhappy says, "Misfire we must destroy it!" Misfire says, "I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW AAAGGHHH STOP BOSSING ME I'M TRYING TO FIND MY PET NEBULAN GUY" Catechism says, "No, no, we want to keep it in one piece!" Triggerhappy says, "IS IT IN YOUR CHEST?" Autobot Heavy Cruiser travels through local space to the Sol System. Autobot Heavy Cruiser has left. Blades has arrived. Tremor says, "Huh! Can we break it afterwards, tho?" Misfire says, "NO DUDE HE WAS IN MY HAND COME ON COME ON COME ON GO GO GO!" Triggerhappy says, "I THINK MINE IS IN MY CHEST" Misfire contorts from robot to jet, because he's a Robot in Disguise. Catechism says, "Just break the /Autobots/. Straxus." Triggerhappy says, "UUUUGH MY NECK DOESNT BEND DOWN" Triggerhappy says, "HOLY PRIMUS MY HEAD IS FIXED IN PLACE" Misfire says, "AAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH" Tremor says, "Don't mind if I do, Jetgirl." Triggerhappy says, "MY NECK JUST GOES UP AND DOWN ON A SPRING" NUR NUR NUR Triggerhappy turns into a space plane Wiretap says, "Please kill Triggerhappy." Saboteur Foxfire says, "Get off our frequency." Nightbeat says, "...for once, I gotta agree with the Decepticon." Tremor says, "Ok, Ok. Trig, Misfur, what is your damage?" Decibel says, "All in favor?" Off in the far reaches of the Sol system, where the sun is pale and wan, barely a star above any others, there drifts a ship thought long gone: the DIN Night, radiating a SOS beacon to the Decepticons. However, the Autobots have intercepted the beacon. Catechism, in her spacejet form, vectors toward the DIN Night, and what she sees when she draws near disgusts her - the ship is falling apart and covered in some loathsome organic matter! She mutters over shortrange radio, "How disgusting. Visible proof that going AWOL is for fools." The non-spaceworthy Decepticons are likely following in a shuttle of some sort. Triggerhappy's space plane form flies alongside Catechism, his quadruple gun barrels blasting out round after round in an echoing din, empty ammo shells drifting into space as he continues to attempt to kill nothingness. "Yes, soon the NIGHTSHIP will learn my wrath. I'll teach the Nightman to come into my room at night!" There is a scuffling noise from his cockpit as Blowpipe awakens, clad in his pyjamas, nightcap and slippers, staring out at the stars. "Triggerhappy, did you STEAL ME FROM MY BED AGAIN?" he shouts angrily Misfire is rocketing through space. Aimless, in gun mode, is mounted to his fuselage somewhere or other. "...and that's why going AWOL is for winners and geniuses," the Targetmaster finishes explaining to his bored binary-buddy, who has been enduring this lecture for the entire trip. "But anyway next let me tell you about the time Triggerhappy dared me to shoot a baby Klud except it was really my own foot wrapped in a blanket and HOLY CRAP IT'S THE SHIP! QUICK, TRIGGERHAPPY, DESTROY IT!" Mecha-Tiger is hitching a ride with someone. It was either this or watch the Scooby Doo animated movie marathon. Motormaster is in a shuttle like a normal Decepticon. Rampage may or may not be with him. He's flying towards the DIN Night, gripping the flight controls tightly. He feels like a total dweeb flying one of these things and wishes Astrotrain had come along. The Autobot Shuttle Alpha Trion is rocketing through space, headed for the distress beacon indicator that Decibel was apt enough to intercept. Ultra Magnus sits at the ship's controls, hitting a series of buttons and switches to propel Alpha Trion ever forward, toward it's destination. He does not feel like a total dweeb. "Decibel, give me the readout from our sensor array. Blades, get the ship's weapon systems activated." the Autobot's second in command orders with a dry tone, then he clicks on the intercom to broadcast to the ship's occupants. "This is Ultra Magnus, we're approaching the anomaly Decibel reported on. Strap in and prepare for a bumpy ride. Keep your game faces on troops." Clicking the intercom button off, Magnus turns his attention back to Decibel. "Do you have those readings yet?" Triggerhappy says, "Is Slugslinger here?" Triggerhappy says, "Or have his slugs escaped again" James Bailey has arrived. Aramasu Hikage is sitting in the Autobot shuttle next to Jayson and performs a quick check towards the back to see if the exo is secured. Might not be some combat but flesh creatures are allergic to decompression. Meanwhile, Hikage loads up his Five-Seven and checks his pockets to make sure all the lockpicking/infiltration tools are there in case they need to bypass a door or something. Never hurts to be prepared...That's why he is still alive to this day. James Bailey sits with the EDC contingent - mostly because that's where all the human-sized seats are. He turns to look briefly over the other humans in the shuttle, making sure they all seem prepared, then returns his attention to what the Autobots (and in particular their leaders) seem to be doing. Carly Witwicky sits in the Autobot shuttle, not in the back but nearer the front with the Autobots, though she's really too small for the seats. So she's sitting cross-legged on the seat. As Ultra Magnus suggests everyone strap in, she answers, a bit uncertainly, "Uhm... sure." Then she stands up and walks over to the side of her seat, jumping to make a grab for the strap. She then walks to the other side of her seat and, with some effort, inserts the buckle into the clasp. Then she squirms in behind a strap that completely covers the lower half of her torso. (It is worth mentioning for any not aware that due to some recent chronal energy hijinks, she is about the same age that she was when she first met the Autobots). Decibel is kicking back for the trip to the outer reaches of the system his feet up on a console and his arms cradling his head as he leans back. His optics are slightly dimmed as his external speakers play various tunes to set the mood. His current play list seems a mix of various Star Trek themes, though the opening to Enterprise is conspicuously absent. Despite his less than alert posture Decibel is still keeping the ship on track, updating the nav computer with updates based on the detected distress call. As information is requested he lowers his feet and enters a few commands fingers sliding over the panel before him. "Sensor readings being transmitted to your station as we speak Magnus. But by the looks of things it's a dead ship. minimal power being detected. Shields and weapons are off line. Life support is weak but present, and hmmm detecting a few faint lifessigns abord. I can't be certain, but these reading don't seem to be reading as all Cybertronian." XF-35B Astral Lightning quickly transforms and jets over closer to the loading bay of the DIN Night, which just lolls open, like the door can't even be bothered to stay closed. She hollers over shortrange radio at Misfire, "No, no destroying! We need to go inside, find the AWOL Decepticons, and punish them for their defiance of the Empire!" That said, she ducks inside the DIN Night, in her foolhardy way, like she doesn't even care if there are traps. More likely, she hasn't planned it out that far. XF-35B Astral Lightning transforms into robot form. Catechism's feet unfold, her arms unfold out of her body, her nosecone rotates through her body and ends up on her shoulders to expose her face, and her wings rotate into position. Jayson Redfield is busily prepping his Desert Eagle. Not that it'll do much good against Decepticons if they run into any (and they probably will), but he feels better just having it on his person. He glances up for a second as Ultra Magnus suggests strapping in, and then does so, before going back to reloading his gun. "Weapons systems coming on line now, Magnus." Blades replies firmly as he goes through the usual motions on the interface in front of him requisite energy from the shuttle's engines to the various weapon hardpoints on board the Alpha Trion. Eventually a few blips of light flashes green and the Protectobot frowns, "Eeesh, weapons are online now, boss. If you can call these old peashooters weapons." A few seconds later the Alpha Trion's targetting computer is also brought online by Blades and begins sweeping the vicinity of the space that is being fed to it by the Alpha Trion's sensor systems. '''DIN Night You enter the DIN Night through what remains of the loading bay. Loading Bay - DIN Night The loading bay doors just loll open hideously, like whatever crew remains doesn't even care if they're boarded. Crates are strewn all about, as if a wild animal went through the place. There are deep gouges in the wall, the floors, the ceiling, as if made by a knife or claws. There are ark stains that glow faintly oozing from the plating of the walls, and that strange lichen material on the outside seem to grow inside, as well. Obvious exits: Fore leads to Corridor - DIN Night. Out leads to Fringe . Triggerhappy enters Fringe . Triggerhappy has arrived. Misfire enters Fringe . Misfire has arrived. Tremor enters Fringe . Tremor has arrived. Rampage enters Fringe . Rampage has arrived. Americon has arrived. Ultra Magnus enters Fringe . Ultra Magnus has arrived. Carly Witwicky enters Fringe . Carly Witwicky has arrived. Decibel enters Fringe . Decibel has arrived. Blades enters Fringe . Blades has arrived. Motormaster enters Fringe . Motormaster has arrived. Jayson Redfield enters Fringe . Jayson Redfield has arrived. Aramasu Hikage enters Fringe . Aramasu Hikage has arrived. James Bailey enters Fringe . James Bailey has arrived. Motormaster has docked his shuttle (he is the only one aboard, it seems, because the other Decepticons are morons). The Stunticon gets his guns and sword ready as he barges on into the ship, ready to kill whoever attacked their ship. Catechism glares as she looks around the loading bay, which is a complete and utter mess. She puts her hands on her hips and demands, "I demand an explanation for this slag!" She receives no answer, since the crew does not appear to be here, either - but Motormaster is, since he got ahead of her. She amends, "Don't answer that, Motormaster." Misfire, meanwhile, crashes through one particularly rotted wall of the loading bay, making the situation worse. "AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" he cries, until he transforms -- at which point, he falls to his knees, lifting his hands to the heavens, and continues screaming: "AAARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!" Misfire unfolds from jet to robot, because he's More Than Meets the Eye. As Triggerhappy crashes through the wall and transforms in front of the Triggerhappy-shaped hole, his chest opens and the grey and blue armoured form of Blowpipe hops out. "I am NOT risking my precious braincells a moment longer!" he hisses at his companion. "Intellectual osmosis is a dangerous threat!" With that, there is a loud WOMMMMMMMMMMM as he throws a glowing disk at his feet, which turns into a platform that lifts him adjascent to Triggerhappy's head. "Now, this seems to be a... ARGH!" Triggerhappy just idly tries to grab Blowpipe, without success like a cat with a ball of wool NUR NUR NUR Triggerhappy turns into a robot Something falls out of Motormaster's right tire as he boards the ship! It quickly transforms into a familiar robot. "And I demand to know why you are here, Motormaster, in Amer--" Americon pauses, looking about the ship. "Wait, this isn't America! Where am I!?" Mecha-Tiger leaps from his hitched ride and gets inside the Ship. "I wonder who did this," he says, "Quintessons? Scuxxoids? Old Man McGillicuddy in the Swamp Thing costume?" Tremor follows after Catechism and Motormaster, having hitched a ride from Bar Moon. "What, up, guys. This is that lost shuttle?" He looks around with his hands on his hips. "Looks like a real gas." Ultra Magnus merely nods towards Decibel, "Duly noted Decibel. Prepare the vessel for docking." veering the steering yokes to the right and up, coming to bear down on the DIN Night and more importantly .. her open docking bay (Opposite side of the Decepticons of course). The Alpha Trion drifts in space towards the large open doors, thrusters only kicking on when the flight path needs that minor adjustment as to not collide with anything. "Blades, prepare the crew for docking." The ship enters the bay and rests down. Unstrapping himself from the seat, Magnus transforms into his Power Armor mode, drawing the extra parts from sub-space to increase his size considerably. Making his way for the exit, the City Commander pauses to make sure all the human occupants are suited up before opening the hatch. Oh, how thoughtful! Triggerhappy says, "HEY HEY didn't APEFACE say he was coming?" Blades cycles through the various menus on board the Alpha Trion and casually engages the shuttle's auto docking system and takes all the credit for the Alpha Trion's hard work in return, "Good thing this ain't like the old days where everything's done by manual." Eventually the shuttler jars around abit as it connects with one of the DIN Night's few remaining functional docking rings. The red warning light on above the Alpha Trion's docking hatch transitions to a green light, indicating that it's alright to proceed through. "Docking ring secured, folks. Go on through." Blades climbs out of his seat and follows Decibel back towards the docking ring, "Yeah, you bet I saw a blip here or there. It's a Decepticon ship though, I don't think it'd be wrong to adopt a 'shoot first, and ask question later' policy." Misfire says, "I'm pretty sure I heard him -- he's the guy who sounds just like Motormaster, right?" James Bailey closes the last few seals on his environmental-suit and checks that everything is functioning properly (and that he can still breath). He flashes a thumbs-up to Ultra Magnus and then begins heading towards the exit. Triggerhappy says, "Who's Motormaster" Carly Witwicky gets prepared by putting a BUBBLE HELMET on top of her space suit. Thus, she's prepared when Ultra Magnus opens the door. She squirms out of the strap without bothering to undo it, gets up, walks to the edge of her seat, and hops off before running to catch up with Ultra Magnus. "I'm ready!" she explains, peering around the City Commander's legs. Misfire says, "That guy! The one made of boxes!" Misfire says, "And he turns into the wheely-box!" Carly Witwicky makes sure she has her LASER PISTOL in her holster at her side. Misfire says, "You know!" Triggerhappy says, "Huh" Triggerhappy says, "I've been calling him Dave" Misfire says, "Well, maybe that's his title, like 'Your Honor.'" Triggerhappy says, "Hmmm that makes sense" Tremor says, "I think you wingnuts may need to be mindwiped." Misfire says, "These Earth Decepticons are weird as cyber-hell, man." Decibel fidgets a bit as he preps his weapons making sure that he has them all and they are charged and ready, then he slowly follows the others towards the hatch. "Great I finally get out of the base and it's to check out a rust bucket like this. I'm surprised it hasn't fallen apart just by us looking at it." Shaking his head as he steps away from the view port he straps into one of the emergency EVA packs and gives a thumbs up. Aramasu Hikage seals his suit and straps his sword across his back. One last look at his exo-armor and decides to leave it here. They've got plenty of backup afterall. The ninja moves towards the EDC party and takes his spot in the formation. Triggerhappy says, "Yeah, that planet must make you freaky" Jayson Redfield finishes with his gun, and then preps himself. "Okay. Ready as I'll ever be, gang." He leaves his seat and heads over to join the others. Like Carly, he peeks around Magnus's leg, but it's more a curious gesture than anything. He's not scared. Really. (Okay, maybe he is. He is in space, after all.) Motormaster ignores Americon, figuring that what he doesn't pay attention to can't hurt him. "Alright, lets get to the bri- sonuva!" he backs up as the Autobot shuttle can be seen docking through one of the portholes. "Looks like we have company. Guess the Autobots are responsible for all this destruction." And the non-Cybertronian lifeforms? Humans obviously. It's the perfect explanation! Motormaster uses the landing strut of his shuttle as cover, pointing his Atom-Smasher cannon towards the hatchway that the Autobots look like they're going to be using. Triggerhappy says, "Like, I'm not racist, but every single Earth Decepticon is really queer" Tremor Misfire says, "Robo-amen to that, bro." Shadow just kinda...stays out of this conversation. Senator Americon says, "Bah! You should feel fortunate you are speaking of Earth Decepticons, and not American Decepticons, otherwise your torment would be great!" Misfire stops screaming and then stands up, as if nothing ever happened. He picks up Aimless, who is still in gun mode and has actually fallen asleep, and walks over toward Triggerhappy, scratching his temple with the barrel of his own living ion particle blaster. "We have... company? Dave Motormaster said we have company, Triggerhappy -- that must mean..." Misfire's voice drops to the barest whisper, as he jabs Triggerhappy in the chest emphatically with his gun to make his point. "...the /NIGHTMAN/." Misfire says, "Sorry, Soundwave!" Misfire says, "You're Soundwave, right?" Triggerhappy says, "Yeah, it is" Misfire says, "Oh, phew." Misfire says, "I didn't want to look stupid!" Robotic Bald Eagle is rather short, and standing in front of a crate. "Where!? I see no Autobots! It's a crime to lie to a senator, Motormaster!" Americon undergoes a patriotic transformation into his All-American robot mode! Americon in robot mode, that is. Shadow says, "That is Americon, not Soundwave..." Seeing the Autobots as well, Tremor falls back behind Motormaster and produces his laser pistol. He crouches, peering out from behind the Stunticon leader. He ignores Misfire and Triggerhappy, who are cruising for a bruising in his opinion, but would probably only be a waste of his time. "The 'bots did this, huh? I guess we owe them, then, right big guy?" Misfire says, "Uhhh why should I trust you? You're just a Stunticon." Senator Americon says, "INDEED. But I have Soundwave's proverbial EAR." Catechism answers Americon, in an unusually expository tone of voice, "This is the DIN Night, a long-lost exploratory vessel. We are here to take it back and punish the crew for going AWOL!" From the massacred crates, something small, perhaps the size of a Minibot or Insecticon, is scuttling in the weird, flickering shadow cast by the glowing stains. It breaks into a run, heading deeper into the ship. As soon as it vanishes, with low groan, the loading bay doors start to close! Looks like someone has noticed the arrival of the Transformers! And that the ship is perhaps not in as bad a condition as it looks. Catechism is about say 'after it' when she notices that Autobots are here. "Slag!" Shadow says, "I'm not a Stunticon!" Misfire says, "Oh! Whoops, sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." Misfire says, "I know it's kind of a... /loaded word/." Blowpipe takes out a large, chunky pistol, cocks it, and aims it directly at the head of Jayson Redfield. "Hah, Autobots, well ARGH!" Triggerhappy manages to finally grab Blowpipe, force-folding him in half into gun mode. Triggerhappy turns from Misfire and wanders out completely into the open, waving his gun about. And then Catechism shouts. "GET IT!" cries Triggerhappy, as he starts firing everywhere, over the walls and barrels and ships and other people. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Shadow audibly facepalms. "Just...just be quiet." Jayson Redfield stares. "Aw, hell..." And then he notices Blowpipe aiming a pistol at him. "Double hell! Yowza!" He ducks behind Magnus's leg and draws his gun, ready to defend himself if necessary. Ultra Magnus steps down from the shuttle's door, his blaster rifle unholstered and hefted between the two large mech-hands. First one out, the Autobot takes a couple of awkward shuffle-steps forward to allow the rest room to disembark and fan out. As he's about to turn and regard the humans that were pratically clinging to his legs, Magnus catches a slight glance of Motormaster out of the corner of his optic. If he was perhaps more attentitive during docking, he might have realized the Decepticon welcome party. If he had run a pre-emptive scan of the surrounding area, he might have had a jump on the opposition. But Ultra Magnus didn't do either of these things, and now must deal with it. "Everyone, fan out and take defensive positions!" he shouts, juking for a large pile of scrap metal himself. He barely notices the loading bay doors close, his attention on the Cons present. Aramasu Hikage moves behind the Autobots and tries leans across the wall. Once in a well enough covered position, Aramasu pulls out his pistol...just in case. He makes sure to cover Carly's position because it's the noble thing to do. "Uh-oh! Decepticons!" Carly explains, TOTALLY stating the obvious. She looks up as Ultra Magnus barks his orders, and nods, responding to them as though she herself were an Autobot. This means she draws her pistol, turns, and runs towards the nearest piece of cover, making sure that she's not clumping too much with the others. Luckily, at her size, it takes things that are much smaller to be serviceable cover. She offers Aramasu a quick nod of thanks as she crouches down, then aims her pistol, though she doesn't intend to fire unless necessary - should a fight break out, it's better if she can rush repairs where they're needed than if she takes part in the fight herself. Americon blinks as the two Targetmasters start randomly shooting everything. "Oh, and the traitors are cloaked! I see! SHOOT EVERYTHING!" he yells, and unholsters both his pistols, blasting away at every random object in sight. Crates, scratches, lichen, so on--but he doesn't fire upon any *actual* people. Decibel doesn't get out much but has read a lot about space walks and other such events and he's watched even more television. Ever since he was informed that he needed a hobby he has been checking out local earth entertainment which he can do without having to move far from his normal duty station. As such he is totally prepared for a voyage onto a damages space cruiser. Moving down the ramp behind ultra Magnus he mutters a bit as defensive positions are suddenly required. Ducking behind a couple of crates he spots the darting form, "What the heck was that? Oh I'm so not going to like this. I bet it was a face hugger or something equally gross. Did you guys see that?" Looking to each of his comrades he draws his own weapon and prepares for the worst. The lichens are particularly gross as they explode - and seem to have wires inside of them! As if they're organic creatures trying to become machines, or vice versa. Catechism frowns as a firefight breaks out in the loading bay, and she decides that she's going to go deeper into the ship and get to the bottom of the matter. She does note aloud, however, "It's a trap!" Thank you, Admiral Ackbar. Then, she runs toward the door into the ship. Blades puts on his own EVA pack, attaching the thrusters to his legs' armor plating and the rest on his back, ensuring there's a complete 360 field of coverage that's required for outer space movement. Of course, he isn't expecting to be vented out into space any time soon. Right? Instincts takes over the Protectobot as commotions begins to break out over the presence of Decepticons, and he dives out of Alpha Trion's docking ring towards a double stacked crate. "Smeg! I don't see anything beside big tall and ugly over there, folks." Blades scopes the area intently, paying attention to where all the EDC members are and begins shoving the scattered crates towards the humans' vicinity, "Hey! If you guys really have to move around, try to make use of these crates as cover! I can't see all of them, how many of them are there?!" "HOLY CRAP IT WAS A TRAP?!" Misfire cries out. "I KNEW IT WAS A TRAP, SOMEONE MUST HAVE SET US--" Misfire pauses in between firing randomly at things. "LOOK! TRIGGERHAPPY! THAT LITTLE NEBULAN MAN!" He points at Jayson Redfield (with his gun). "It's SPASMA! Apeface's Nebulan head-guy SOLD US OUT!" "WHAT?!" shouts Triggerhappy as he stares at Jayson. "I KNEW IT! You were NEVER ANY GOOD, SPASMA!" he shouts. "You turned into a monkey head and an Apeface head, I guess you turned into a TRAITOR HEAD TOO! Grr, this makes me MAD, Misfire!" He takes his Blowpipe gun and aims it at Jayson. "I'm gonna shoot him to death Misfire, to total death, and then Apeface will have to put a box on his neck instead of a head!" Motormaster, much like Ultra Magnus, kinda wishes his sensors had told him about the enemy ship as well. Curse Easy Mode! Ah well. At least he isn't the only one to blame here for this. His finger on the trigger, he's ready to begin blasting when suddenly Triggerhappy and Misfire suddenly cut loose in all directions. "Gah!" he's forced to seek cover from his fellow Decepticon. It doesn't help when Americon adds to the random shooting. With all the explosions going off now, Motormaster retreats towards his ship. Triggerhappy says, "Whoa, Dave-Motormaster is running for it" Triggerhappy says, "Maybe he was the trap too?" Tremor says, "Dave's not here, men." "It's a trap!?" Americon echoes. He examines the lichen that he shot rather carelessly, looking nauseated as they're revealed to be full of wiring. "Urrghhh! I should have known better than to trust the fungus among us! Run away!" he cries, following Catechism into what will no doubt be a much more perilous situation. Shadow says, "Who the frag is Dave?" Tremor is torn between smashing Autobots and avoiding the possibility of being smashed by Autobots. He desperately wants to have a go at Ultra Magnus - see what the big guy is made of - but find himself far more curious about Catechism's unsolved mystery. He follows her. "Wait up, jetfemme! I wanna see!" Carly Witwicky says, "Hey! Where're those Decepticons going?" Carly Witwicky says, "Oh! Opps!" Carly Witwicky says, "Hey! Where're those Decepticons going?" Triggerhappy says, "He's the box guy" Jayson Redfield says, "And why am I being mistaken for Spasma?!" James Bailey is the last human to emerge from the shuttle (for now anyway), and quickly takes cover behind one of the crates Blades helpfully provides. "Sounds like the Decepticons don't know any more than we do about what's going on." At least, it kind of sounds like that. In between sounding like they are insane and sounding like they would like to kill half of their own troops. "If anyone wants to try reasoning with them, now's probably a good time!" Carly Witwicky is not much of a combatant. Also, she's spotted at least two, possibly more, Decepticons chasing off down a hallway for... some reason. Now, Carly has always been a headstrong little thing, and since there's little for her to do here, obviously the BEST thing she can do is find out WHY those Decepticons are running away from the fight! And so she leaves cover to run after them, avoiding the center of the are, keeping towards the edges, but following none-the-less. Mecha-Tiger transforms, reverting to his robotic form. He almost wishes he'd brought a portable television along with him. Then there is random shooting, and he ducks. "What the frag?!" he exclaims. Ultra Magnus points in the general direction of Catechism's exit, "Blades, go. Now!" he shouts at the Protectobot resident crazy mech. Ducking behind his scrap pile, he eyes Motormaster making a break for his shuttle. "Bailey, direct your troops as you see fit. Decibel, keep the humans as safe as you can." Standing, Magnus makes a break to intersect the Stunticon Commander and get some answers of this whole mess. He crouches down and leaps into the air, hoping to catch Motormaster somewhat offguard and generally unaware. Combat: Ultra Magnus strikes Motormaster with his Answers I need them! (Grab) attack! Aramasu Hikage holds his fire and lets the Autobots take care of the physical stuff. Meanwhile Hikage examines his surroundings with more attention, namely the ceiling, corners looking for anything that could be interesting: cameras, vents, automated sentry-gun and other nasty surprises. Jayson Redfield puts up his hands in a "hey" kind of gesture. "I'm not Spasma, you moronic Decepticons! Do I *look* like a Nebulan to you?!" Don't answer that. Gripping his gun tightly, he glances to the side, spotting Catechism, and then takes off in the direction she ran off in. Whatever she's after, it's probably important. In the meantime, he hopes he doesn't get his head blown off by those idiot Targetmasters. Jayson Redfield says, "Why am I so popular with the bad guys?!" Nightbeat says, "Th' French allure." Jayson Redfield says, "Oh, can it..." Blades pokes his head out in the general direction where Ultra Magnus has pointed before pulling his head back in, "You got it, boss." The Protectobot unclamps the rotor blades attached to his back and locks one on each of his arm's ablative armour plating, securing it tightly before readying his photon pistol. "Git outta my way, Deceptipunks, or you're getting it in the face when I come stomp across your face!" The Protectobot growls out as he shoves the double stacked crate that he was hiding behind down and bursts into a sprint towards the corridor that the other Decepticons have left through. Decibel looks towards the door where the figure skittered off into and soon watches Catechism dart after it. "Ugh man that thing was freaky looking. I thought I saw leaves, but it had gears and stuff. Magnus what's the plan?" Keeping behind cover Decibel tries to move to a position to see better but the closing blast doors make spotting anything difficult. Now or never, he debates dashing for the doors but Magnus steps up and issues orders and he makes a break for it. Breaking into the open he races for thedoors hoping to slips past them before they close too far. Jayson Redfield says, "Anyway, I'm gonna try to see where those 'Cons are runnin' off to." Aramasu Hikage says, "Yame and heads up and" Aramasu Hikage says, "I mean UP" Jayson Redfield says, "Wonderful..." Corridor - DIN Night The loathsome grey-green lichen is thicker in its patches on the walls here, and there is a palpable, humid atmosphere. There is the stench of both rusted and corroded metal and rotting meat. The lights proper are gone, but there are faintly glowing stains splattered across the corridor that light the way. There are more deep scratches in the paneling. Obvious exits: Starboard leads to Barracks - DIN Night. Fore leads to Command Deck - DIN Night. Aft leads to Loading Bay - DIN Night. Americon has arrived. Grimlock says, "Am it GIANT SPIDER? Me Grimlock bet it one of thems." Triggerhappy has arrived. Carly Witwicky has arrived. Rampage has arrived. Jayson Redfield has arrived. Decibel says, "Moss and wires, blood and energon. Whatever is up here doesn't seem to be entierly organic or mechanical." Tremor has arrived. Decibel has arrived. Blades has arrived. Aramasu Hikage has arrived. Misfire has arrived. Jayson Redfield says, "Ugh...don't give me a mental image like that, Grimlock." Aramasu Hikage says, "I just have a feeling it's not spiders...Something /else/ probably." Catechism heads off deeper into the ship, because whoever closed the loading bay is probably deeper in the ship. Perhaps that darting little figure? She looks around the corridor, glancing fore - a command centre, maybe? - and starboard - barracks? But before she can make a choice, from the barracks, the door breaks open, and a cybernetic beast explodes into the room. It vaguely resembles a dragon, a mixture of gleaming orange-red with a bit of purple. It seems to have been pieced together from several ldifferent organic creatures and, even worse, several different robots! It is a really Frankenstein's cyborg, blood and energy alike running down from its seams where the flesh and metal havent been properly joined. It turns pained, mad eyes and optics, two of each, on the boarding party, and it bellows both a challenge and a threat before releasing a blast of flame - right at Catechism! Blades says, "Whatever it is, the 'Cons ran ahead first. Good or bad, they're going to be finding out first. Personally I hoping it's going to be the latter." Americon screams, as he rushes into this new corridor, "Why are we running deeper into the really scary place, Catechism!? Are you trying to KILL a Senator!?" As the cybernetic beast reveals itself ahead, Americon gapes a bit, and takes cover by leaping up, transforming into tape mode, and magnetically sticking himself to Catechism's back. Americon collapses and shrinks down into a very tiny cassette labeled, "America's Most Patriotic Hits!" Jayson Redfield says, "Maybe they'll get possessed by ghosts! Heh heh." Triggerhappy skids to a halt as he sees the dragon-creature. "IT'S A SPIDER!" he shouts, before opening fire on both the creature and Catechism, shoulder cannons also blasting away in every direction possible, hitting the floor and ceiling too. "THE NIGHT SPIDER!" Tremor runs down the hallway after Cate, looking at the grey-green lichen and the glowing stains on the wall. And are those scratches in the paneling. "Yo, Cat," he calls, "What in the Pit is all this crap on the walls? Ya, know I think THIS has something to do with, ya know, all the weirdess and whatnot going on." He hears the door behin him open, but doesn't have time to turn before a giant freakin' metal monster bursts into the corridor, offering the jetfemme impressive gout of roarin flame! "Yah hahahaaahholy pit demons!" Tremor sputters, feet skidding on the floor, trying to backpedal. Mecha-Tiger caught a glimpse of whatever Catechism is chasing. And he's in on the chase too! "Ewww, these walls look worse than that bathroom in Kitchen Nightmares," he mutters. Misfire unfortunately got stuck in a hole somewhere and is busy climbing out. Jayson Redfield runs after the Decepticons, although being much smaller he's nowhere near as fast. However, he does catch up to them when they stop, and does the same upon sight of the dragon creature. "Holy...!" Carly Witwicky continues to run after the Decepticons. Fortunately, they've taken no interest in her (apparently focusing on Jayson instead). As she sees them encounter the horrific cyber-monster up ahead, her eyes open wide and she skids to a halt, then scurries towards the edge of the hallway. "What *is* that thing?!" she exclaims. Carly Witwicky says, "What *is* that thing?!" Carly Witwicky says, "Hey, Grimlock? It's not a spider." Jayson Redfield says, "Some kinda dragon, it looks like. Like a...weird Frankenstein's monster dragon." Aramasu Hikage runs with the rest of the EDC crew and stops abruptly as the dragon crashes into the corridor and attacks Catechism. "Oh yeah...THAT explains the marks...and the blood...and the energon..." He turns towards Jayson "Why do we always leave our heavy gear behind when this sort of stuff happens?" Hikage begins looking for anything else that could serve as a hideout or ambush spot such as vents with shiy eyes in them and stuff like that. Last thing he wants is a two ton monster DROPPING on top of his fellow humans. Decibel makes it through the bays doors with time to spare and pauses just on the other side. As the Decepticons move further along he quickly swaps his rifle out for his pistol and gives the others of his group a chance to regroup. As he waits he examines a bit of the odd growth on the walls. Running a quick scan he notices that he has now lagged behind and hustles to catch up. "I wonder how much power is being diverted to keep this level of environment stable in a ship so in need of repair. I would imagine that...PRIMUS!!!" Catching up just in time to see the frankendragon attack it's all Decibel can do to not open fire. Blades makes it through the loading bay's doors with ample time to spare but is distressed by the immediate fact that the Decepticons he has been pursuing has long disappeared from his sights. He takes a quick moment to survey his surroundings and takes notice of the patches of organic growth all over the walls that's barely lit into view by the glowing stains splattered all over the corridor. "The blazes is with this damn awful smell?" The burst of fire briefly lights up a corridor in the distance and catches the Protectobot's attention as he turns around towards that direction. Any doubt is quickly resolved when he hears the screams echoing from the general direction, "Heh, looks like whatever it is, it definitely found the Decepticons first. I can recognize a Decepticon's pathetic wussy cry from anywhere." He runs ahead down the corridor where he regroups with Decibel and finds the rest of the humans, and quickly steps ahead in front of them with weapons at ready, "That's a damn good question, folks." Jayson Redfield says, "If that thing attacks us, I'm shootin' it!" Carly Witwicky says, "I'm sure that'll do a lot of good!" Decibel says, "Agreed, but for now I'm happy to watch it attack them." Carly Witwicky says, "The technology looks almost... familiar, though." Blades says, "You can recognize what the hell that abomination is made of?!" Jayson Redfield says, "Hey, it's the fact that I tried that counts, right?" Carly Witwicky says, "Well, I think I remember reading something about it!" Jayson Redfield says, "You've read about cyborg dragons?" Carly Witwicky says, "Not that exactly! It kind of makes me think... you remember those Transformer-sized Exo-suits you guys had? I remember reading up on the technical side of that, and this kiiiiind of sort of reminds me of that." Catechism is trying to get herself set on fire, that is what she is doing. She flails and staggers about, on fire. Having wings kind of puts a damper on 'stop, drop, and roll'. Catechism cries out, "Americon, what /is/ that thing?" Why she thinks Americon would know is unclear. As Triggerhapy opens fire on the cyborg dragon who is easily mistaken for a spider, it readies to release a blast of flames towards Triggerhappy, too, but it stops and sniffs, staring pointedly at Trigger's gun. Suddenly, a series of rather small traps doors open in the floor, seemingly intended to target any human or Nebulans who may be on the floor, while leaving the Transformers stuck up here with the patchwork dragon. Seemingly satisfied, the dragon then turns its attention onto the Autobots, lunging at Blades, claws and a slavering mouth full of fangs outstretched. The Tiger POUNCES at the Frankendragon! But he misses...AND FALLS THROUGH THE FLOOR! "YAAAAAAARGH!" he shouts. Ultra Magnus says, "That's all fine and dandy, but exactly what are we dealing with here?" Carly Witwicky says, "I'd have to get closer to find ou- yiii!" Jayson Redfield says, "Carly!" Triggerhappy's gun transforms again into Blowpipe, landing on the floor. "You're an idiot, Triggerhappy!" he shouts. "All you have to do is aim and..." He takes out his pistol, aims it between the creature's eyes, and... a trapdoor opens beneath him! Oh no! Triggerhappy instinctively dives after Blowpipe, but all he manages to do is get his arm trapped in the trapdoor :( Patriotic Cassette yells from Catechism's back, "I know exactly what it is! It looks very similar to this beast I saw on a heavy metal CD album! Yes, I do believe this is DETH's official mascot, Zargorrhur the Cybernetic Dragon, Destroyer of Souls! So, yeah, I'd keep my distance if I were you!" Tremor dives for Catechism, trying to pat the flames out. He's got past the shock and is anxious to go up against this big monkey. But a bit of strategy may be necessary. "Catboss," he says, "let's blow this wreck and get rid of Autobots, dragon and all. Whadda ya say?" As the trap doors open, he looks about to see who will fall in. "This ship isn't ours anymore, yeah? It's some monster hideout er somethin'! No good stickin' around!" Triggerhappy has left. Carly Witwicky peers over at the monster, studying it. She frowns, thoughtfully, and can be heard quietly reporting what she sees, and what it reminds her of, over the radio. But then Ultra Magnus asks her what it is. She starts to run towards the creature again, answering him, "I'd have to get closer to find ou- yiii!" The 'yiii!' occurs as a small trapdoor opens beneath her and she falls out of sight! Carly Witwicky has left. Jayson Redfield takes a step back, and a trapdoor opens up right where he'd been standing. He doesn't fall through, of course, but he does trip and fall onto his backside. "Whoa!" He winces, then gets to his feet, and his eyes widen as as the dragon creature turns on Blades. "Hey! Leave him alone!" As if the beast would understand him. Either way, he aims his Desert Eagle and opens fire, shooting at the creature's head several times. He doesn't expect it to do much good, however. Jayson Redfield says, "Carly, are you all right?!" Aramasu Hikage watches Carly fall down one of the trap doors before he can warn her about them. Without hesitation the ninja grabs his nekade and leaps into the same trap door after Carly. Hopefully the climbing claws can slow the fall and help get back out. Aramasu Hikage says, "I am on it." Aramasu Hikage has left. The amount of satisfaction at seeing Decepticons flailing around on fire or running around in fear shows through visibly with the beaming wide grin that's worn across Blades' face plate. "Now ain't that a sight, eh, folks?" Suddenly Carly's scream catches the Protectobot's attention, causing him to spin his head around to the side to glance behind him, "What the? What the blazes happened to Carly?!" Before the Protectobot can do much investigating of his own, he is caught off guard by the lunging Frankenstein abomination. Decibel notes the traps almost as soon as they open but is ill equipped to keep his human companions from falling victim. As Carly slips from view Decibel looks down the hall at the cyberbeast then back to the trap closest to him then casts Blades a quick glance. He seems about to leap at a trap himself but stops as Aramasu drops down. For now Deceibel stays to help Blades topside. Stepping forward he lowers his free hand, "Yo Jayson you may want to climb on up." Jayson Redfield takes a step back, and a trapdoor opens up right where he'd been standing. He doesn't fall through, of course, but he does trip and fall onto his backside. "Whoa!" He winces, then gets to his feet, and his eyes widen as as the dragon creature turns on Blades. "Hey! Leave him alone!" As if the beast would understand him. Either way, he aims his Desert Eagle and opens fire, shooting at the creature's head several times. He doesn't expect it to do much good, however. And then, upon seeing Carly fall, he jumps down one of the trapdoors. "Geronimo!" Jayson Redfield has left. Ultra Magnus has arrived. Motormaster has arrived. Catechism has the flames put out by Tremor, but she suffers a lot of damage and is in rather a lot of pain. She leaps up, taking to the air - and bonking her head on the ceiling - as the trapdoors open. The tiny trapdoors. She stares and exclaims, "But why would anyone care about a bunch of humans?" The horrible Frankenstein's cyborg dragon tries to maul Blades with a swipe of its claws and lashes its tail over at Decibel. It looks to have been built out of several species of organic aliens and several different robots, with two optics and two eyes, tattered wings, and all too many sharp parts. It oozes a mixture of blood and energon from where its components join, almost as it its organic components reject its robotic half. Those mad optics and eyes show both pain and fury. "You got me, Catboss," Tremor says as he turns to watch the firebreathing frankendragon try to take Blades apart, "but I sure don't! We gonna git or what?" He stands in a ready position, finger on the trigger of his pistol in case either the dragon or one of the Autobots should turn to attack the Decepticons. The Tiger's paw is stuck! He tugs at it to try to pull it out of the trap door hole that opened in front of him suddenly. Patriotic Cassette transforms into eagle mode, alighting from Catechism's back and launching missiles at the creature. "It probably wants to EAT THEIR SOULS! Let me demonstrate the proof via some of DETH's music!" So he plays a sample of DETH's stuff. Beware Zargorrhur the unholy For what he desires only IS YOUR SOUL! YOUR SOUL IN A BOWL SO! HE! CAN! EAT IT! Americon undergoes a patriotic transformation into his All-American robot mode! Windshear has arrived. Motormaster is currently walking through the hallways, following after where the other Autobots, Decepticons, and humans (who are strangely no longer here) headed. Behind him is Ultra Magnus, wielding a laser gun. That about tells you how things went down in the docking bay. Saboteur Foxfire plays a recording of 'This is Halloween' from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Ultra Magnus walks behind Motormaster, blaster rifle hefted out in front of him ... the tip of the gun only butting the Decepticon in the lower back every once in a while. Just a gentle reminder of how much it'll hurt to deviate from 'the plan'. Shaking his head in some sort of puzzlement, Magnus attempts to reach them on the shortwave and the proper communication channels. Ultra Magnus says, "Where is everybody?" Decibel ducks and rolls as the cyborgs tails lashes out at him coming up in a crouch with his feedback blaster ready. Hoping that at the very least they will be taking the abomination out of its misery he open fire. The blasters design sets up sympathetic vibrations in its targets, creating a sudden, total breakdown in vulnerable mechanical systems and should give the motley band an edge even if it does little to the organic parts. "Blades, we need to find the others before they are assimilated and end up like this crazy thing." Most of the vicious strikes meant for the more vital areas of the Protectobot are narrowly obstructed by the ablative armour plating attached to his arms that he is flailing around desperately, leaving large claw marks in the areas that the creature has struck. "Ugh. This smegging freak is strong--- urrrgh-- than it looks. Argh--- dammit those cybernetic parts aren't for--- hurrgh--- aren't for looks!" While this struggling is taking place, the cyborg creature's body, with all of the jagged edges it has protruding from its body, continues to puncture and rend the Protectobot. Eventually a small opening shows itself as the cybernetic freak arches backwards, readying for another strike. Blades takes this opportunity to push his right hand against the neck of the dragon, the rotor blade attached to his arm puncturing against the creature's skin, as he extends his right arm in an attempt to put some distance from his face away from the creature attacking him. "I don't think my rotor blades can put this guy down! Ugh!" He attempts to raise his photon pistol that's clutched tightly in his left hand, "I'm going to try to blind it if I can, look away!" Jayson Redfield oddly doesn't respond, though static can be heard on his frequency. Blades says, "Ugh, in a bit of a situation at the moment. It's under control ---hurgh--- really." Motormaster naturally plans on deviating from 'the plan' as soon as he gets an opening. "So what's your plan here, huh dillhole?" He asks Magnus, "Storm onto our ship while it's helpless and take it over? Sounds pretty Decepticonish if you ask me." He keeps moving where Magnus tells him to. Blades says, "Ooof----, yeah sure thing Decibel. Just let me put down--- hurgh--- big, heavy, and ugly here first and we'll get right on it." The freakish patchwork cyborg dragon roars in pain as Americon's missiles and Blades's, uh, blade retaliate against it. Curiously, the dragon seems to be far more interested in attacking the /Autobots/ than Decepticons. There is definitely some pattern recognition going on in its mad little mind. And those robot parts, while they seem to come from several different robots - well, any of those robots could have been various Decepticon designs. Huh. Wonder what happened to the crew? Whatever it is or once was, it shrieks in pain and unleashes fire at the nearest Autobots. Catechism, meanwhile, is blackened, because she was set on fire, and deafened, because Americon loves metal. She tries to edge around the dragon, toward the command deck. Mecha-Tiger loves metal as well! He finally extricates his paw from the trap door. He snarls at the idea of Ultra Magnus telling people what to do. Americon, in an effort to help Catechism, lands on her shoulder as she tries to walk around the beast, zapping it with his eyebeams all the while. "This is totally metal, isn't it, Catechism!?!" Americon caws. Tremor follows Catechism because he doesn't really know what else to do. He isn't interested in what happened to the crew or why the robofreak is attack Autobots. He's more interested in who's got a plan and how he can execute that plan. He claps his hands over his audio receptors as Americon starts with the metal. "Gah! I hate human music!" He shouts, "Also, what the frag is the plan here, exactly?" Windshear has been hanging in the background through this whole thing. Hes got a serious hang over from the Dark Void of the Lasercore he drank the night before and it still feeling the effects of it a bit. Oh hes sober enough but at a cant so to speak. Hes done what hes been ordered to and thats it. Thinking is not good for him right now but when he hears Americons muscis he grins, "Thats what Im talking about..." he rasps as he follows the rest around the dragon. Looks like hes one of the few if not the only one that likes the music? "It appears my hypothesis was correct, your buddies jumped ship first chance they got." Ultra Magnus mutters, directing the Decepticon down another long spooky hallway. This isn't quite what he had in mind, everyone appears to have just up and ... disappeared? "YOUR ship sent out a distress beacon. I can't help it if being charitable and good mannered runs in our faction. No mech deserves to be left out here to rust, not even a Decepticon like you." Magmus mutters something else into the communication link on his forearm. Ultra Magnus says, "Decibel, I need a sitrep ten minutes ago." Finally safe for the immediate dangers of being shredded by the cybernetic abberation that is grappling him, Blades brings his photon pistol into position and squeezes the trigger, as the dragon exposes his optics and organic eyes while attempting to level another barrage of flames at the other Autobots. "Eeesh, thanks for the distraction there, Decibel. Payback time now, ugly!" Several blinding beams of light erupts from the tip of the Protectobot's photon pistol as he squeezes the trigger while he shields his optics with his right arm. Decibel lowers his weapon which oddly seemed to have no effect at all on the beast and lets Blades do his thing. As the Decepticons move ahead he considers following but thinks it best he remain with his comrade in arms as he tries to get a fix on the location of the humans with his scanner. His hope is to find another way to reach them that does not require him to slip down through the trapdoors. Astrotrain has arrived. In a chorus of shifting and spinning parts, Astrotrain's body spins and lifts up into his large robot mode. Decibel says, "Not good Magnus. Trapdoors cut us off from the EDC team and this cyborg dragon thing is blocking forward progress. Seem it dislikes us more than the Decepticons so I can only guess it was either built by them or is built of them." "Charitable? Ha ha ha!" Motormaster laughs, "If I were talking with anyone smarter I might not believe that, Magnus, but you chumps really do sound like the sort that might come out to 'help'." The Stunticon laughs again, despite Magnus having a gun pointed at his back. "It's why you're never going to make any headway in this war. Sure you might be able to delay the inevitable by snatching up allies with your idiot talk of friendship, but the Decepticons always rise up to face whoever your latest buddies are." Americon is pressing onwards, or rather he's staying firmly perched on someone who IS pressing onwards. "Plan? We're supposed to have a plan? Uh... don't die?" Americon's robot legs pop out metallic feather-like objects as they and his lower torso split apart, also revealing an eagle head. The arms and robot head join the main body, and his guns convert into tail feathers and rocket launchers. Americon is now a bald eagle! Astrotrain has disconnected. The Tiger is pressing onwards...with an Eagle on his back? "Just keep playing those tunes," Mecha-Tiger growls. Catechism sees that Americon is being very, very helpful, shooting at the dragon and making noise and all. She more or less gives up on making it to the command deck for now. The dragon, while it seems to prefer the Autobots, and it does sweep its barbed tail out at them, has finally had enough of Americon, and its snaps its jaws out at the very patriotic Decepticon, hoping to crush Americon between its teeth. It is leaking and seeping from its many wounds, and it seems that the beast may be, at last, dying, but it seems inclined to go out with a bang when the curtain calls. Tremor shrugs. "Don't die? Well, that's not what I had in mind for the Autobots, really." When the dragonthing starts attack Americon, Tremor's initial reaction is to laugh. It takes him a second to realize that he is probably just as at risk. He stashes his pistol for now, and decides to push on to the command deck. "If you think there's somethin that way," he says to Cate, "I wanna go find it. Why don't you tell me what to look for?" Robotic Bald Eagle is ensnared between the dragon's jaws! "GRAAAKKK!" he cries as the dragon's teeth close in on his body, his metal skin squeeling as it is rapidly pressed out of its original proporions. Something like this happens in every episode Americon is in, though, so no need to worry. Windshear watches the Dragon curiously, "Leave it for the Autobots I say," he mutters and continues followig Cate and Tremor. "Yeah yeah, stow the idle chatter Moto, I'm the one holding the gun ... remember?" Ultra Magnus notes harshly, jabbing the barrel into the Stunticon Commander's shoulder compartment. "Now why don't you be a good little Decepticon and reach your buddies on your shortwave?" The ship's hull is playing with Magnus' sensors, he can't tell where the calls for help are coming from exactly. As the cyber-dragon starts slowing and the attacks again shift Decibel turns his attention to the trapdoors. Having had little luck locating the missing group he instead mag-clamps his pistol to his side and extends his wrist mounted laser cutter. Keeping away from the gap itself he starts to cut away at a section of the floor trying to widen the hole. While he could slip down himself he's a bit worried at the lack of communications. If he lands in an area too cramped to transform or if doing so would harm the others he would be of even less use than trying to help from here. Triggerhappy's Nebulan Blowpipe says, "Jamming signal has been dispersed, threat neutralised. Report status" Catechism says, "This dragon-thing seems almost dead, but I haven't been able to make it to the command deck - I want to know who is behind this nonsense!" There's a bit of static, and then it clears, and Jayson's voice can be heard. "We...we're all right. Just had a bit of trouble down here..." He sounds like he's in pain, but trying not to show it. Tremor says, "I'll head there, boss, if ya want." Blades offers no hint of resistance as the cybernetic abberation loses interest in scrapping his face and changes focus to other Decepticons in the area. "Thanks for the assist, bud." The red and white Autobot stumbles his way over to rejoin his comrade and then he heads back to the trap doors where the EDC team members had fallen through and eyes the small opening with grim expression on his face, "Eh... there's no way I can fit through this." The Protectobot takes a quick glance at Decibel, "Good idea." Blades retracts his right hand and attaches his rotor blade into the new opening left behind by his retracted hand. The new attachment begins acting like a saw, of which the Protectobot uses to cut through the materials around the trap door, enlargening the hole slow but steadily. The sound of the combined cutting by the two Autobot sends loud high pitches metal grinding sounds throughout the corridor. Triggerhappy's Nebulan Blowpipe says, "Check it out, I have killed the creature that seems to be behind this technoorganic infusion" Tremor says, "Sweet work, squishy. What was it?" Catechism says, "Do it, Tremor! - Really, Blowpipe?" Triggerhappy's Nebulan Blowpipe says, "A twisted Decepticon known as Rootstock, who had fused his systems with plantlife, driving him quite mad. And now it has driven him /dead/" "And tell them what?" Motormaster sneers. He's tough enough that having a gun poking him in the shoulder doesn't bother him too much. It isn't clear if he's just stalling for time or not. "If you want to jibber jabber with them then use broadband or something. I'm not your personal Soundwave, Magnus. Do it yourself." Motormaster figures he can mouth off to Magnus all he likes. Lets hope it doesn't get him into any trouble. Catechism says, "Tree-huggers never prosper." Blades says, " Eh, you don't sound it. You hang on there for a while longer, Decibel and I should be able to get to you folks soon." Triggerhappy's Nebulan Blowpipe says, "Indeed. I require extraction. We can search the craft for more of his twisted experiments, or we can set the controls to push the craft into Sol. That is my preferred option" Decibel says, "Good to hear yer voices guys. Umm...is everything ok down there? I'm detecting a shift in pressure, as if we're venting air." Jayson Redfield says, "I was injured by a knife...but I'll be fine. And, um...Blowpipe kinda sucked the air in the room into himself...yeah..." Senator Americon says, amidst crunching noises, "I agree! We must explore the craft further for more strange creatures!" Triggerhappy's Nebulan Blowpipe says, "...Americon, you are indeed a glorious scout" Catechism says, "Tremor, if you make it to the command deck, can you just crash this thing into the sun? I... by my training in logistics, declare this ship unsalvageable. Mostly because it is disgusting. But also because it is busted!" "I'll get to the command center," Tremor finds himself superfluous action movie dialogue, "you stay here with the giant monster." He unspaces his pistol, doubting it will do much better against any more freaky monkeys than his bar hands will. He pushes forward, past Catechism, and ducks through the hexagonal door to the command module. Tremor has left. The Tiger yelps in surprise as the Dragon goes for Americon! He bats at the Dragon. "Hey, no messing with the tunes player!" he snaps. Triggerhappy says, "WHERE'S MY GUN?" Tremor says, "Hmm. Well... not sure what I'm lookin for here, but it might be worth mentioning that allthe.. uh, escape pods have recently been jettisoned. It's still pretty normal looking in here. Lights are out, but the consoles are workin." Catechism says, "Busy saving the day. Get on the ball, Triggerhappy." Windshear walks up to Catechism, "Orders?" he asks quietly and looks around at everything from the glowing splotches to the dragon to the Tiger batting the Dragon. Oh that might not end well. Triggerhappy says, "BALL" Triggerhappy's Nebulan Blowpipe says, "Hn, we will need to set the Sweeps on a hunt and destroy mission, we do not wish any pods of creatures to contaminate Galvatron's prize of Earth The dragon has taken all that it can, and a piteous whine emanates from it, as if pressure is building up inside of it. The whine grows louder and louder, and at last, the dragon explodes, in a hail of gore, broken machinery, and bollowing flames. Catechism catches on fire again. Catechism says, "Uh... Windshear! You are a pilot, yes? Help Tremor crash this wreck." Robotic Bald Eagle is flung, on fire, directly out of the dragon's maw by the blast, and sails towards Windshear's face in a broken, bloody, burnt heap. "Waaaagh!" "I need information scrap-heap, and if that means getting some of it from your buddies, then so be it." Ultra Magnus chuckles, "Still playing the part of rebel ... even after you've been declawed, huh Motormaster? It'd be a grand 'ole time if the Stunticons could see you now, huh?" Lights and sounds echo from down another hallway, a steel saw cutting into some sort of metal is the only thing discernable admist the noise though. Glacing that way, Magnus uses the muzzle of his blaster to correct Motormaster's path, towards the sound of the disturbance. "That way." Tremor says, "I need a pilot to crash?" Windshear spinns around as the dragon explodes and gets smashed in the face by a flaming eagle. he stumbles back and possibly into Catechism who he was standing next to askign for orders. He splutters and trie to get the cassettecon off his face. "Mfffpphhmm ggg!" His face is on fire, hes covered in goo and this is just not his night... Catechism says, "Tremor, I am sure that some Decepticons could even fail at crashing. Let Windshear help youuuu---ack!" Tremor says, "You O.K. Catboss? Breez'ms, get in here." Catechism may have just been crashed into by a goo-covered, on-fire, Americoned Windshear. Carly Witwicky has arrived. Tremor says, "Hmm. Anyone care to tell me what's up? I'm at the controls trying to crash this thing. Which lever makes it go? Uhmmm..." Triggerhappy has arrived. Aramasu Hikage has arrived. Jayson Redfield has arrived. Aramasu Hikage climbs out of the hole carefully and looks around to see how things are topside. Decibel stops his cutting as he starts picking up approaching signals. Not wanting to injure anyone he retracts the laser cutter and waits to offer a hand up to those that might be climbing up the shaft. Carly Witwicky climbs up a makeshift ladder made of cages and such, out through the hole cut by Decibel. "Whew! Thanks, Decibel!" she exclaims, clambering out of the way. Blades stops cutting as Decibel stops. "What happened down there?" He follows along and offers a helping hand to anyone else coming up. Jayson Redfield climbs up after Carly. He's still a little sore from jumping through the trapdoor, but it's nothing compared to the pain of the injury over his lower ribcage. "We had an...encounter," he grunts, trying to ignore the pain of his wound, which is hurting more than ever, and more so with each movement, but he manages. "A crazy plant-Decepticon tried to make a Jayson suit!" Carly explains, talking in the short one-and-two liners that are a shore indication that the player's been in a scene too long. Sure, too. Blowpipe rises through the hole in the floor on a hoverdisk. "I trust evacuation procedures have been - URK!" He is cut off as Triggerhappy somehow jerks back to life and grabs him, transforming him into gun mode. "GUN!" he shouts happily. He then frowns. "GUYS, BLOWPIPE KILLED THE NIGHT MAN, LETS GO HOME NOW!" Catechism gets crashed into by a flaming, goo-covered, Americoned Windshear when Catechism was herself already on fire. She is now on fire TWICE, for the second time. Catechism tries to shove Windshear toward the command deck where he can help out Tremor with this 'destroy the ship' business. Because this horrid ship really could not be gone too soon. "You *always* needed a clue, dumbass." Motormaster snaps back. His hands clench into fists as Ultra Magnus goads him. That's it, Magnus. Keep being a smartass. Keep staying comfortable there with your gun. The moment your guard drops is the moment your face is going to be caved in. Per Ultra Magnus's instructions, the Stunticon heads towards the sounds of cutting metal. Jayson Redfield glances to Carly. "What she said." Windshear falls back onto what he can assume was Catechism as thats who he was standing next to. He feels heat everywhere and as he struggles to get the cassettecone and flames off his face, he sees that Catechism is on fire too and hes half layig on her. He did hear something about a pilot needed and stumbles to his feet, dripping and smoldering. "I will go assist Tremor" he mutters and heads out the door that Tremor left. Windshear has left. Rampage has left. Robotic Bald Eagle is pulled off of Windshear's face and hits the ground with a wet flop! Decibel does a quick head count to make sure everyone has returned from the dungeons of the ship. "Well at least we're all back together." Noticing that a few of the Decepticons have departed for the command deck he starts thinking of ideas. "Hey guys maybe we should head for the shuttle and blast this thing to scrap. If this dragon thing is any indication of what's on this ship I don't think we want it getting any closer to earth." "Keep thinking that Motor, that's why you're in this situation." Ultra Magnus barks back at his 'captive', in what seems like a momentary lapse of judgment. Usually he's a lot more composed than this, not apt to arguing with Decepticons ... well, usually. "More walking, less talking." the City Commander adds, following down the hallway. In the distance, they can see some lights playing off the walls and the sounds of voices. Leaning forward, Magnus tries to get a better view ... inching a little too far to keep a good distance between himself and Motormaster. "Good idea," Carly agrees with Decibel. "It gets even weirder than the dragon, too!" With that, she starts scurrying back to the shuttle! Aramasu Hikage nods at Decibel and offers Jayson some help to walk if he needs it. "Let's get out of here Jayson-san before the ship is turned to scrap." Aramasu Hikage has left. Blades is the splitting image of Ash Williams from Evil Dead, well as close as it could possibly be if Ash was actually a Cybertronian, with his rotor 'saw' arm attached to where his right hand should be and his photon pistol in the left. "The Decepticons got a real long head start ahead of us. If everyone's ok, we better go catch up." The Protectobot stares down the corridor where the Decepticons had gone down, "I don't like it when it gets this quiet." Triggerhappy has disconnected. Jayson Redfield moves along as fast as he can toward the shuttle. Carly Witwicky has left. Decibel helps the others along and pauses long enough to turn and call back, "Blades man, shred later now is the time we move to the hanger so we don't miss the shuttle." Decibel has left. Jayson Redfield has left. Blades sighs agrees and follows. Blades has left. Motormaster walks down the hallway, stepping slightly to the side as Magnus leans in to see what's going on. That's his chance! The Stunticon's elbow suddenly flies back, trying to nail the Autobot second in command in the gut. Whirling around, Motormaster's hands flash out. One reaches for the gun, trying to push it upwards so it can't blow his head off. The other is aimed to grab Ultra Magnus in the neck and shove him backwards. "RAARR!" Motormaster shouts, putting all his strength into wrestling Ultra Magnus. Some day Magnus and Motormaster might be able to tear themselves away from each other and join the others. Some day. Jayson Redfield says, "Everyone okay?" Decibel says, "Ok on this end, prepping shuttle for lift off as soon as everyone is aboard." Catechism says, "Tremor, Windshear, you'd better haul skidplate - we really need to get out of here!" Motormaster says, "Be there once Magnus's a stain on the deck." Tremor has arrived. Senator Americon says, "Hurrrgh, I feel nasty!" Windshear says, "I... cant leave just yet, the controls.. its losing power and wont respond... let me see if I can get the autopilot working." Ultra Magnus is bent over with the sudden emergence of the Stunticon's bravado, the elbow causing the hand holding the blaster to grab at his mid-section ... the other dropping to the ground to try and maintain some semblance of balance. Then in a moment, his wrist is being jerked upwards and his entire body is being shoved backwards against the wall. *THUNK* Scraps and pieces fly from the badly rusted wall, showering the occupants of the deserted hallway. Coughing, Magnus pulls both arms out and holds them away from his body, palm up. Then in a knife like motion, he brings them up and in to cut Motormaster's hold and give him the higher ground. Launching himself forward, arms clumsily wrapping around the Stunticon's waist, Ultra Magnus hefts with all his strength ... attempting to deadlift his opponent. Once airborne, he rears back and propels the weight forward like a shot-put. Tremor says, "We should be ready. Someone remember to save Breezy. He's flying into the sun and whatnot." Catechism says, "...do we have anyone capable of a fast extraction available in the Sol System? Uh. Aside from me." Senator Americon says, "'Breezy' is a wussy name! I say let him die!" Fusillade says, "Hnn. How many do we have that need pulling out?" Windshear says, "Yea by the way...Im not space flight capable... it would be fortunate if someone could get me out of this..." Motormaster grins a nasty grin as he lifts up Magnus. His face is framed by the shower of sparks raining down from the wall. "So where's your smartass comments now, Magnus? Huh?! Where's your Primus-damned holier-than-thou nonsense? Where's your speeches about honour and duty?!" Motormaster starts to dig his fingers into Magnus's neck up until Magnus brings his arms up, knocking the Stunticon's hands away. Yelling an incoherent battlecry, Motormaster clasps his hands together and brings them around for a haymaker, but only gets half way before Magnus lifts him and chucks him down the hallway. Hitting the ground and skidding the length of the ship, Motormaster topples through the doorway that leads to the docking bay, bouncing down onto the lower deck. Rolling over onto his front, Motormaster stands up again. There's still a grin on his face, but now it's due to deciding that it's finally on between him and Optimus Prime Jr. But a little voice in his head reminds him of the complaining and whining going on in the Decepticon broadband. It wouldn't do to have the ship blow up while he and Magnus are dueling. "Gonna have to wait, Magnus." He turns and runs for his shuttle. "Better we do this on the road anyway." Catechism says, "I think just Windshear? Tremor, can you confirm?" Tremor says, "Something tells me Americon won't be the one rescuin you." Windshear mumbles, "I dont want to know how bad my face looks right now after he did a flame out into my face..." Senator Americon says, "Now, Windshear is a much better name! I think I'll go save him!" Fusillade says, "There's a fair bit of interference from the sun -- give me your location." Robotic Bald Eagle suddenly springs to life and flies into the control room! "AMERICON TO THE RESCUE!" he caws. Americon has left. Tremor says, "We're in a big ship out in space. Does that help?" Windshear says, "resens the corrdinates, "ITs starting to get pretty hot in here..." Ultra Magnus grins widely as well, seeing the distance of the throw is almost a feat in itself tonight ... let alone getting Motormaster to give in on a good 'ole slobber knocker. Reaching down for his blaster rifle, the City Commander double times it back towards the shuttles ... and ultimately a way off this Primus forsaken ship. Absolutely nothing good has come of this exploration, not one thing. "Anytime Motormaster, anyplace." he roars out, running for the hangar. Ultra Magnus has left. Motormaster has left. Decepticon Message: 2/160 Posted Author DIN Night Sun Nov 01 Triggerhappy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Blowpipe appears on the screen in his armoured form. Behind him, Triggerhappy can be seen stumbling about, shaking violently a cardboard box on which has been written the word 'GUN'. "Blowpipe reporting. Last night a taskforce comprising of myself, Aimless, Triggerhappy, Misfire, Catechism, Tremor, Motormaster, Windshear, Americon and Rampage investigated a distress call from the lost Decepticon Imperial Navy ship Night on the fringes of Sol." "The Night had been AWOL, and upon boarding the craft we were soon attacked by a hideous creature, created from the bodies of the Decepticon crew. I and some of the humans present were captured by the architect of this horror, the Decepticon known as Rootstock. Rootstock had gone quite insane, and decided that the future evolution of the Transformer race required an even closer fusion of organic and techological life. To that end, he had replace half his body with plant life, which seemed to also contain his intelligence." "The process was faulty however, and he had to constantly replenish his organic stocks to stay alive. I was able to gain his trust, and then killed him. Sadly all his years of research were destroyed in the ensuring fight. Units Tremor and Windshear eventually piloted the ship into the sun." He leans forward. "As an addendum, Tremor reported escape pods from the ship had been recently used. It would be wise to keep an eye out for 'new arrivals', the creatures Rootstick made could easily contaminate a world and leave it unfit for our conquest. Blowpipe out." Autobot Message: 3/158 Posted Author Space Nightmare Mon Nov 02 Decibel ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** Audio Transmission Only *** Decibel here reporting on the recent intercepted distress call. Few cycles back we picked up an SOS on a Decepticon frequency coming from the outer rim of the Sol system. A gaggle of us geared up with some EDC support and headed out to investigate. What we found was the cruiser DIN Night, or at least what remained of it. The thing was in bad shaped and was patched up using some organic moss. Anyhow we boarded the ship and met some minor Decepticon resistance from a party they sent of their own to investigate. As we split to check out the ship a cyborg dragon creature that didn't seem to care much what faction people belonged too attacked us. At about this time the humans and neubulons were separated from us. Don't have all the details on their side of things but they managed to rejoin us soon enough. We bailed and the ship took a header into the sun. Despite the ship being gone it's not over, Carly was able to retrieve a hard drive from the ship and I've just finished decrypting it. Seems the commander Rootstock was supposed to be on a standard recon mission to scan other worlds for robotic and vehicular designs. Looks like he slipped a gear though as he turned to the organic side of things. Tried to merge the mechanical and organic together, starting with his crew. Some logs mention his desire to infiltrate a planet disguised as organic creatures. This would fit with the holo-news recording he has of both the *Masters and the Pretender shells from not long back. Now according to his logs that dragon thing was not his only experiment that survived the table. It was however the only one we found on the ship. There are others out there guys, I'm not sure where as the navigation logs were too damaged to track his course. I'll keep digging and see what else I can find if anything, but don't expect much. Decibel out. *** End Transmission ***